Amok Time (episode)
Spock is plagued by the pon farr, the Vulcan mating drive. Summary :"Captain’s log, stardate 3372.7. On course, on schedule, bound for Altair VI via Vulcan. First Officer Spock seems to be under stress. He has requested and been granted shore leave. Ship surgeon McCoy has him under medical surveillance." Dr. McCoy notices that Spock is growing restless and has stopped eating. He also is becoming extremely irritable, throwing Nurse Christine Chapel out of his quarters and physically flinging the Vulcan plomeek soup she has specially prepared for him. After this outburst, he demands a leave of absence on his home planet Vulcan. Captain Kirk is baffled by Spock's behavior, but orders the ''Enterprise'' to Vulcan. However, a priority message forces him to change course back to Altair VI in order to be on time for the new President's coronation. As soon as he leaves the bridge, Spock orders the course changed back to Vulcan. Kirk orders Spock to sickbay, where McCoy examines him and finds that if he is not brought to Vulcan within eight days, Spock will die due to extreme stress produced by chemicals being pumped through his body. When Kirk confronts him, Spock says he cannot tell the cause of his problem because it is a deeply personal affair. Kirk eventually cajoles Spock into revealing that his problem is "Vulcan biology," which Kirk correctly concludes means Vulcan reproduction. Spock explains to them that Vulcans are married as children with the understanding that they will fulfill this commitment when they become adults. Spock has reached this time, the pon farr, and if he doesn't get to Vulcan immediately to mate with his bride, T'Pring, he will die. Kirk jeopardizes his career by disobeying a direct order to the contrary from Starfleet, and proceeds with all possible speed to Vulcan. As Spock's friends, Kirk and McCoy are invited to witness the marriage ritual – the koon-ut-kal-if-fee. The master of ceremonies is T'Pau, the only person ever to turn down a seat in the Federation Council. Trouble starts when T'Pring announces she would rather not marry Spock, (later we find out it is Stonn, a full Vulcan, who T'Pring would rather marry, as she did not want to be the "consort of a legend"). T'Pring invokes her right to have Spock fight for her. However, she chooses Kirk as her champion. Both Kirk and McCoy (correctly) speculate that Stonn is T'Pring's actual choice and would be picked next should Kirk decline. Fearing Spock is too weak to fight Stonn, Kirk agrees. It is only then he is informed that it is to be a fight to the death. The fight ensues and Spock quickly demonstrates physical superiority. McCoy objects to T'Pau that Kirk isn't used to the Vulcan atmosphere and climate. He asks permission to inject the captain with a tri-ox compound to compensate. T'Pau agrees and Kirk is given the injection. During the fight, Spock apparently kills Kirk, and McCoy accompanies the captain's body back to the Enterprise. Spock, his mating urges curbed by the knowledge that Kirk, his friend and captain, is dead by his own hand, relinquishes T'Pring to Stonn. He solemnly returns to the starship. There he finds Kirk alive and well, having been injected not with tri-ox, but with a neuroparalyzer which simulates death. Here, he is overjoyed to find Kirk alive, betraying his emotion with a big smile. Kirk is let off the hook for disobeying orders when Starfleet retroactively grants permission to divert to Vulcan at T'Pau's request. Memorable Quotes "What is this!?" (throws bowl of plomik soup into the corridor) "Poking, prying – if I want anything from you, I'll ask for it!" : - Spock "Sailor's luck, Mr. Spock, or as one of Finagle's Laws puts it, 'Any home port the ship makes will be somebody else's, not mine'." : - Kirk "In case you haven't noticed, I have to answer to the same commanding officer you do... C'mon, Spock; yield to the logic of the situation." "Very well, then, examine me – for all the good it will do either of us." : - McCoy and Spock "There's a growing imbalance of body functions. As if, in our bodies, huge amounts of adrenaline were constantly being pumped into our systems. Now, I can't trace it down in my biocomps, Spock won't tell me what it is. But if it isn't stopped, somehow, the physical and emotional pressures will simply kill him... and he's as tight-lipped about it as an Aldebaran shellmouth." : - McCoy, explaining Spock's problem to Kirk "Spock, you have been called the best first officer in the fleet. That's an enormous asset to me. If I have to lose that first officer, I want to know why." : - Kirk "It has to do with... biology... Vulcan biology." "You mean, the biology of Vulcans...? Biology as in... ''reproduction...? Well, Mr. Spock, there's no reason to be embarrassed about that, it happens to the birds and the bees–''" "The birds and the bees are not Vulcans, captain. If they were... if any creatures as proudly logical as us were to have their logic... ''ripped from them... How do Vulcans choose their mates? Haven't you wondered?" "''I guess the rest of us assume that it's done... quite logically." "No... it is not. We sheathe it with rituals and customs shrouded in antiquity – you humans have no conception. It strips our minds from us; it brings a madness which rips away our veneer of civilization. It is the ''ponn farr – the time of mating... There are precedents in nature, Captain... the giant eel-birds of Regulus Five. Once each eleven years, they must return to the caverns where they hatched. On your Earth, the salmon. They must return to that one stream where they were born, to spawn – or die in trying." "''But you're not a fish, Mr. Spock–" "No – nor am I a man... I'm a Vulcan. I had hoped I would be spared this, but the ancient drives are too strong. Eventually, they catch up with us... and we are driven by forces we cannot control – to return home, and take a wife... or die." (long pause) "I haven't heard a word you've said – and I'll get you to Vulcan, somehow." : - Spock and Kirk "I owe him my life a dozen times over – isn't that worth a career? He's my friend!" : - Kirk "Nurse–" "My name is Christine!" "I know, Christine... Would you please make me some of that plomik soup?" "Oh, I'd be very happy to do that, Mr. Spock." : - Spock and Nurse Chapel "He described it to me as meaning ''marriage or challenge. In the distant past, Vulcans killed to win their mates." "''And they still go mad at this time... perhaps the price they pay for having no emotion the rest of the time." : - Kirk, explaining the Koon-ut/Kal-i-fee to McCoy "I grieve with thee." : - T'Pau, believing (or seeming to believe) Kirk to be dead. "T'Pring – explain." "Specify." "Why the challenge? And why you chose my captain as your champion?" "Stonn wanted me; I wanted him." "I see no logic in preferring Stonn over me." "You have become well known among our people, Spock; almost a legend. And as the years went by, I came to know that I did not want to be the consort of a legend. There was also Stonn, who wanted very much to be ''my consort... and I wanted him. If your captain were victor, he would free me, and so I would have Stonn. If you were victor, you would free me because I had dared to challenge – and, again, I would have Stonn. But if you did not free me, it would be the same; for you would be gone. And I would have your name, and your property... and Stonn would still be there." "''Logical – flawlessly logical." "I am honored." : - T'Pring and Spock, as she explains her choice of the challenge to Spock "Stonn, she is yours. After a time, you may find having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical – but it is often true." : - Spock, in releasing T'Pring to Stonn "Live long, T'Pau, and prosper." "Live long and prosper, Spock." "I shall do neither; I have killed my captain... and my friend." : - Spock and T'Pau, as Spock bids farewell believing he has killed Kirk "Merely my quite logical relief that Starfleet had not lost a highly proficient captain." : - Spock, explaining why he showed emotion when he found Kirk still alive Background Information *This episode marked the first use of the Vulcan salute (an unscripted improvisation by Leonard Nimoy), and the words "Live long and prosper" said by T'Pau. The salute, incidentally, is actually a handsign done with both hands by the rabbis of the Hebrew Tribes when the congregation of a Jewish synagogue is being blessed with the "May the Lord bless you and keep you" prayer. Nimoy remembered it from his childhood and suggested it to the show's director. *Celia Lovsky couldn't actually do the Vulcan salute naturally, so she had to use her other hand to put her fingers in the right pattern below camera, then hold it up at the right moment. *Bantam Books published a series of novelizations called "foto-novels," which took photographic stills from actual episodes and arranged word balloons and text over them, to create a comic book formatted story. The twelfth and final installment was an adaptation of this episode. * In an extremely touching moment, as Spock tells Kirk that male Vulcans are accompanied to pon farr by their closest friends, he asks that McCoy come along. This is a wonderful acknowledgement by Spock that McCoy is indeed a good friend. In his honored response, McCoy calls Spock "sir" for the only time in the series. * Another such moment is after Spock tells Kirk everything about the pon farr, and hangs his head after revealing so much that is extremely personal for him. Before telling Spock he will get him to Vulcan somehow, Kirk instinctively reaches to comfort his friend, but pulls back, realizing Spock could not accept such a gesture. * Curiously, the purple stain left on the wall outside Spock's quarters when he flings the plomeek soup remained on that wall for the next two seasons. Whenever the crew quarters set is used, whether for Kirk, Spock or another character, watch for the stain through the doorway. * Something very curious about this episode is that when McCoy emerges from the doorway in the first scene, there is no elevator set inside. The elevator is accessed from a side doorway for this episode. This was probably done in advance of the next episode filmed, "The Doomsday Machine", to show the wrecked conditon of Matt Decker's starship. When the landing party beams onto the Constellation, the door is open at the end of this same corridor and no turbolift is inside. In "The Ultimate Computer", a turbolift is located right outside sickbay and the one at the corridor terminus is not utilized. Set drawings indicate the doorway at the end of that corridor did not regularly contain an elevator, however. * A change in this season is thick painted stripes across the corridor floors. On the sister ship [[USS Defiant (NCC-1764)|USS Defiant]], as seen in ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II", it was revealed that these stripes delineated various features like the edges of grav plates. Originally, they may also have been meant to mark areas on the stage where walls were to intersect, or maybe as decorations. * Sickbay is on Deck 5, established by dialogue. The sickbay of the [[USS Voyager|USS Voyager]] is also on deck 5. * This is the first episode of the second season to offer us a look at the further-expanded sickbay that now includes McCoy's new office. In "The Deadly Years" we will see the addition of more beds in the infirmary section of the sickbay. * This is the first time Spock's quarters are seen fully. A very brief shot of his quarters is seen in "The Menagerie, Part I", with a tricorder and red glass statue seen behind him to make the room look different from the Kirk's quarters set. Here, a large statue with blinking lights, red curtains and objects resembling molecular models are seen, among other "Spockian" decor. * For some reason, when Spock pounds his viewscreen into oblivion, there is no glass shattering heard (Kirk's evil self destroyed a viewscreen in "The Enemy Within" and breaking glass resulted). * During the plak tow sequence, Leonard Nimoy, not realizing he is on film, can be seen lounging casually in the background. In the next scene, he is back to his "blood fever" pose. * Gerald Fried composed some of the most memorable music in the series for "Amok Time". The fight music was re-used in many episodes throughout the second season. The distinctive Spock theme was played by bassist Barney Kessel. * Romulan helmets are reused from "Balance of Terror", this time worn by Vulcans during the pon farr ritual. *James Doohan (Scotty) does not appear in this episode. * Kirk at one point says to Spock, "You have been called the best first officer in the fleet." It was McCoy who said this, in "Operation -- Annihilate!" * In the original script, there were a few more Vulcan words. Spock described Kirk and McCoy as his lak noy, the equivalent of best man. When T'Pring makes her challenge, the wedding party begins to discuss what's going on, all in Vulcan, until T'Pau shuts them up. * Mary Rice was photographed as a young T'Pring on during the filming of the episode. * This episode was nominated for Hugo Awards in as "Best Dramatic Presentation". * Although this was the second season premiere, and the first time the character of Chekov was publicly seen, this was the last episode filmed in which Walter Koenig wore a wig, while his real hair grew out. *This episode is referenced in the Stargate SG-1 episode "Babylon". In that episode, Colonel Mitchell is given an herb to make him appear dead by a Sodan named Jolan. Upon waking up and finding out that it worked, Mitchell says "Well done Bones." Production Timeline * Final draft script: * Second revised final draft; * Filmed in early, mid-June 1967 * As the first episode aired in Season 2, this segment debuted the new second season opening credits. DeForest Kelley's name was added to the "starring" cast and the theme music was extended and had a female soprano voice and percussion added to it. Links and References VHS edition available through Amazon under ISBN 6300213382. Starring * William Shatner as Captain Kirk * Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock * DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy Guest Star * Celia Lovsky as T'Pau Also Starring * Arlene Martel as T'Pring And * Lawrence Montaigne as Stonn Featuring * Majel Barrett as Christine Chapel * George Takei as Sulu * Nichelle Nichols as Uhura * Walter Koenig as Chekov * Byron Morrow as Admiral Komack Uncredited Cast * Eddie Paskey as Leslie * William Blackburn as Hadley * Mary Rice as Young T'Pring * Walter Edmiston as Vulcan Space Central Voice * Russ Peek as Vulcan Executioner * Charles Palmer as Vulcan Litterbearer * Joe Paz as Vulcan Litterbearer * Mark Russell as Vulcan Litterbearer * Gary Wright as Vulcan Litterbearer * Frank da Vinci as Vulcan Bell and Banner Carrier * Mauri Russell as Vulcan Bell and Banner Carrier * Dave Perna as Spock (Stunt Double) * Paul Baxley as Kirk (Stunt Double) * Phil Adams as Kirk (Stunt Double) References Ahn-woon; Aldebaran shellmouth; Altair VI; eel-birds; Finagle's laws; hypospray; Kah-if-farr; Kal-if-fee; Klee-fah; Koon-ut-kal-if-fee; Kroykah; Lirpa; plak tow; plomeek soup; pon farr; quarterly physical; Regulus V; tri-ox compound; Vulcan; Vulcans; Vulcan lute External Links * Category:TOS episodes de:Weltraumfieber es:Amok Time fr:Amok Time nl:Amok Time